Side Drop Lines in Power BI (Without Gridlines!)

If you’ve ever wanted to take more control over vertical lines in Power BI visuals - to clearly separate data by quarter or emphasize key groups - this tutorial will show you how to do it using a clever trick with error bars and transparent series.
Apr 3 / datatraining
Step 1: Add Vertical Lines with Error Bars

Start by building a column chart that shows something like total social media likes over time.
1. Create your base visual.
2. Go to Format > Error bars and enable them.
3. For the upper bound, use a DAX measure like:
4. For the lower bound, use a measure that returns zero:
5. Style the error bars:
  • Turn off borders and markers.
  • Change the color to a light tone.
Step 2: Move Lines to the Side (Left or Right of Columns)

The problem: the lines are centered on the columns and overlap labels.

Solution: create a second data series (e.g., Monthly Max) and apply error bars to that instead of the main series.

  1. Add the same Monthly Max measure as a new series above your main one on the y-axis.
2. Make it transparent:
  • Go to Format > Series > Monthly Max
  • Set transparency to 100%
3. Go back to Format > Columns > Layout and reduce space between series to overlap the columns (e.g., 33%).

Now apply error bars to the new transparent series instead.
Step 3: Add Dynamic Labels to the Top of Lines

To place labels like percentages or growth rates above the vertical lines:
  1. Create another transparent series (e.g., Monthly Max 2)
  2. Add it between the previous two series.
  3. Apply a measure for data labels, e.g.:
4. Apply it to Monthly Max 2 data labels.
5. Format:
  • Change color
  • Make bold or smaller as needed
Step 4: Show Labels Only at Start of Each Quarter

To make the labels appear only at the start of each quarter, use this logic:
Do the same for labels:
Apply these to:
  • Error bars (upper bound)
  • Data label values

Step 5: Add Detail Text and Final Styling

You can add detail below the main label using another measure:
Go to Format > Data label > Detail and assign this measure.

Then:
  • Set background color (light blue)
  • Format text alignment (left-aligned like flags)
  • Enable overflow text
Why Not Use Gridlines?

Standard gridlines in Power BI do not allow vertical lines like this, that’s why this method is such a valuable workaround.

Final Thoughts

This design technique gives you precise control over where vertical lines and labels appear in your visuals - something not possible with default gridline settings. It improves readability, separation by time periods, and overall UX.

Hope you like it!

Give it a try and see how it works for you! I’d love to hear what you think or see how you use this trick in your own reports.

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